A Community Project by Resident Artist Jeff Schmuki and the Galesburg Civic Art Center.
Community members are invited to use numerous wheat grass blocks to reclaim parts of their town for responsible use. Beginning from the Box Studio, a green line will be formed by laying each block one in front of the other. Expanding and moving forward, the green line is people powered. It follows the sidewalk, crosses streets, and runs through various parking lots. The path lingers and flows all within the vision of the people engaged with moving it. New patterns emerge between people place, memory and future. Those taking part claim a new use of space through the delineation of this green line. The destination is the vacant lot where the old department store burnt down a few years ago. Today, there is debate over its future use and the community is concerned. Will it become a park space or a parking lot? This green line moving forward offers a metaphor for the empowerment of the people’s desires for a greater quality of life in this town. A green space/parks movement is but one example of how this can be framed. The purpose of this project is to create discussion over what might best serve the community in the city planning and development. By working together through community engagement a more enriched conversation regarding potential solutions to common problems can be explored.
Smaragdine Table
red winter wheat farmed into various recycled containers from community -- later removed and mounted on wall.
360 x 120 x 6 inches
From the August 2009 Scientific American Magazine | 4 comments
